Bindi Irwin Rushed to Emergency Surgery on the Night of Late Father Steve Irwin’s Tribute Gala

Crocodile Hunter daughter Bindi Irwin was heartbroken when she was forced to miss a gala tribute to her late dad and rushed to a hospital, where she underwent emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix.

Brother Robert Irwin, 21, says his 26-year-old sister was set to attend Steve Irwin’s annual fundraiser in Las Vegas on May 10, but missed the event along with their mom, Terri Irwin, 60, who was with Bindi at the hospital.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bindi Irwin (@bindisueirwin)

“She’s going to be OK, but surgery — out of all the things we were ready for, that was not one of them,” he says. “She came to Las Vegas and was ready to put on a brave face. She said, ‘I’m just going to tough it out.’ But the surgeon told her, ‘Your appendix is going. It’s got to come out.’”

As GLOBE has reported, the famed Aussie family of animal conservationists has been hit with tragedies starting in 2006 when reptile wrangler Steve, 44, was killed after a giant stingray he was following in the water got spooked and fatally pierced his chest with its tail barb.

Bindi, who was just 8 when she lost her dad, revealed in March 2023 her painful 10-year battle with endometriosis — where tissue similar to the uterus lining grows outside the uterus. The condition devastates sufferers with chronic fatigue, abdominal bloating, bladder and bowel issues, and excruciating pain.

After her emergency surgery, Bindi revealed on Instagram, “I also had 14 new endometriosis lesions that had to be removed, and they kindly stitched up my hernia as well.”

Bindi, mom of daughter Grace, 4, with wakeboard champ husband Chandler Powell, 28, revealed in 2023 the hell she suffered.

“I went for 10 years undiagnosed because doctors … diagnosed me with a million other things,” she recalls. “The symptoms continued to snowball, and it took me such a long time to find help. The only people that knew that I was incredibly unwell … my husband, my mom and my brother, and behind closed doors I was struggling to do anything and everything.”